Although this may seem suspicious due to the similarity of our names.. I’m in complete agreement with djones, and believe that those of you paying big bucks for old/inferior DAC technology are being duped by manufacturers who are all too glad to take your money. Few here seem to understand detailed DAC and AMP measurements and what they mean, and there seems to be little tolerance for those of us who are able to digest this info and use it to inform our purchasing decisions.
For example, I use a $250 SMSL balanced DAC that measures better than basically everything mentioned in this thread so far. Best DAC I’ve ever owned.. I feel like some of you NEED it to cost more, otherwise you won’t believe that you’re having the audiophile experience you paid for. That one piece of my system hasn’t stopped me from spending more in other places, it just so happens that recent advances in DAC manufacturing and testing have enabled this kind of value for money.
For those of you with money to waste, by all means, do so to your hearts content, just know that it’s not always necessary and you could be spending the money on other improvements.
If anybodies wondering, my name is a reference to the third season of Twin Peaks 😀
